Related Summaries

Two reports indicate that 91,000 jobs were added in the private sector in August and that businesses are planning to lay off fewer employees. The reports, which are expected to temper concerns about the economic recovery, come ahead of an official report from the Labor Department.

This spring, houses across the U.S. have increased in value, indicating that the slide in the housing market might be over. Home prices were up in 19 of the 20 metropolitan areas that are monitored by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index. A dozen of those cities have shown increases in home prices for three consecutive months.

Economists expect that consumer spending in the U.S. increased in July after a slight decline the previous month. Purchases likely climbed about 0.5%, according to the median estimates of dozens of economists ahead of an official report. "The report should be pretty solid, relative to beaten- down expectations," said Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America.

The government reported that 117,000 jobs were added to the economy in July as the unemployment rate fell to 9.1%. The report adds some positive news to the otherwise dismal economic outlook and market turmoil.

After several weeks of data that didn't tell us much, the March employment report finally confirmed that the U.S. economy is really recovering and that the labor market is gaining strength, according to The Economist. Government hiring continues to decline, but private-sector employers more than made up for public-sector shrinkage. Excluding agriculture, total payrolls increased 216,000 and unemployment fell modestly to 8.8%. "This report is solidly positive for the economy: bit by bit the pieces of recovery are falling into place," the magazine noted.